High School Notebook: Coach 'touched' by tribute

HIGH SCHOOL NOTEBOOKBaytown Sterling honors Dunlap; rankings recognize the Houston area in cross country

EMILY DAVIS, Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle

Published 5:30 am, Thursday, September 15, 2005

Drew Dunlap was one of those coaches who challenged his athletes to be better people. His name is associated with one of the most successful track and cross country programs in the state.

And on Saturday, the former Baytown Sterling cross country and track coach will be honored for the mark he made on those he associated with during his 34 years of coaching.

At 10 a.m., immediately following the Sterling Invitational cross country meet, Sterling's track will get a new name — the Drew Dunlap Track and Field Facility. A monument will also be unveiled.

"This is just the greatest honor I could ever think of," Dunlap said. "It is definitely the highlight of my career. I'm really looking forward to seeing some of my former athletes at the ceremony and hopefully renewing some old acquaintances. It's just really going to be a fun time."

Dunlap, 67, was a head coach at Sterling from 1966 until retiring in 1995 and led his teams to 28 district championships: 15 in track, 11 in cross country and two while serving as the girls cross country coach.

He also coached three individual state champions and four national champion relay teams and is a member of
the Gulf Coast Coaches Hall
of Honor. Dunlap was an assistant at Baytown Lee from 1961-65.

The Goose Creek ISD school board voted to officially name Sterling's track facility in honor of Dunlap on Feb. 14 after some of his former athletes proposed the idea in January.

"It was a total surprise when I found out they were really going to (name the facility) after me," said Dunlap, who now lives in Wimberley. "I knew some of my ex-athletes had come up with the idea, but I was just so touched when it was voted through."

Although Dunlap, who also taught math at Sterling, has been retired for nearly a decade, he admits there are things he misses about coaching.

And on Saturday, Dunlap will come face-to-face with just how much the track and field community misses him.

"I miss the planning and the strategies of coaching," Dunlap said. "But after you've been in it for 36 years, you kind of get to a point where you know it's time to call it quits. It was the right time for everyone. So I have nothing but fond memories of it all."

Cy-Fair nets big district win

With its 14-5 win over Cypress Creek in team tennis on Tuesday, Cy-Fair beat its 17-5A rival in district play for the first time in four years.

The Bobcats had defeated Cy Creek at the Cy-Tex tournament on Aug. 19, but Tuesday's district win was higher on their list.

"That was a really big win," Cy-Fair coach Sylvia McClure said. "We had at least 13 three-set matches that could have gone either way, so it really was a great match."

Behind No. 1 boys player and senior J.T. Sanvido and No. 1 girls and sophomore Meredith Miller, Cy-Fair is 10-0 (4-0 in district) for the first time in five years.

"I'd say this is the the most balanced team we've had," said McClure, who is in her 15th year of coaching at Cy-Fair. "Our doubles are really strong, and we could have any one of our alternates coming in and playing. So balance is really our strong point this year."

Cross country

This weekend, all four are staying home and resting
up for the Nike South Invitational on Sept. 24 in The Woodlands.

"We've found this year at The Woodlands that we might not need to put as much emphasis on individual meets leading up to district, regionals and state," The Woodlands coach Dan Green said. "The heat here can really take a lot out of runners, so we're sort of easing off in the early going of training and working on some fundamentals."

But three of the top girls teams in the state — Cinco Ranch, The Woodlands and Clear Lake — will see action. The Woodlands is traveling to Kansas for the University of Kansas Invitational, and Cinco Ranch and Clear Lake will run area meets.

Kingwood, the other 5A girls team ranked among the top 10, will take the week off along with its boys team.

The cost of the clinic is $20 for non-association members. An RSVP is requested by Sept. 22. For more information contact Terry coach Melissa Fields
by phone at 281-341-3476 or by
e-mail at mfields@lcisd.org.

Boys basketball

Westfield will host a "Success in Coaching and Sports Management" workshop from 6 to 9:30 p.m. on Oct. 5. The event will feature former
NCAA
coach
Bill Foster
, who was the first NCAA coach to lead four different Division I teams to 20-win seasons: Rutgers, Utah, Duke and South Carolina.

Football

White's team moved to 2-0 on the year after routing Class 4A power Yates 40-26.

Pustejovsky's Bobcats upset area-ranked Cypress Falls 17-7 last week.

Each school receives a $500 grant from the Texans. Both coaches will be honored by Texans coach Dom Capers on his weekly radio program and will receive an invitation to the Texans-St. Louis Rams game on Nov. 27 and the yearly Texans High School Coach of the Week banquet in January.